WAUSAU – Every point matters in a balanced conference like the Wisconsin Valley appears to be this season.

That was the message both teams touched on after Wisconsin Rapids and Wausau West battled to a 0-0 tie Tuesday afternoon.

"I don't look at it from the standpoint of being satisfied with a tie. I look at it as being satisfied with the way we played," West coach Brady Mesenberg said. "I was pleased with us generating offense and sticking to the game plan. It's the way the conference is going to be — a lot of tight 2-1, 1-1 and 0-0 games to be had.

"We've talked a lot about that in a conference year like this, every point and every game could be the difference."

CLOSE

The Raiders and the Warriors battled to a 0-0 tie in a WVC matchup Tuesday.

Thomas Hogan had seven saves in the home opener for the Warriors, who moved to 1-1-1 in conference play and are a point behind Wausau East and Stevens Point Area Senior High in the WVC.

The Lumberjacks and Panthers tied 1-1 Tuesday and are the only teams outside of Rapids not to have a loss in the conference.

Wes Plowman also had seven saves for the Raiders, who have tied both of their conference games. Rapids hosts Wausau East on Thursday, while West has a bye and faces the Lumberjacks on Tuesday.

"Our conference is so deep that when you have a chance to win games, you need to. You're going to need that later in the season," Rapids coach Derek Bell said. "Our goal was to come in here and try and get as much as we could, and West put up a good effort. They defended well, and we didn't get as many good looks as we wanted to on goal. The chances we had weren't good enough for us tonight.

"We did what we could and got a point on the road," Bell added. "As deep as our conference has been the past few years, that's a plus."

The Warriors had two solid scoring chances in the final 20 minutes of regulation as Charlie Hessil's shot went just wide of the left post, and a shot from Nick Techel was deflected by Plowman just over the Rapids' crossbar.

"We played well offensively. We had a game plan and stuck to it," Hessil said. "We had a lot of chances but just couldn't get the ball on frame enough. We did get it on frame a couple times where we just couldn't hit the corners.

"This conference is good, and it's going to be close,"Hessil added. "Anytime you can come away with a point it's a good day."